View source for SS Kanguroo

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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=KangurooPlan&Elevation.tiff
|Ship caption=Plan and elevation drawings of ''Kanguroo'' 
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country            = France
|Ship flag               = {{Shipboxflag|France|civil}}
|Ship name               =''Kanguroo''
|Ship namesake           =[[Kangaroo]]
|Ship owner              = [[Schneider et Cie]]
|Ship ordered            =
|Ship awarded            =
|Ship builder            = [[Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde]], [[Bordeaux]]
|Ship original cost      =
|Ship yard number        =
|Ship way number         =
|Ship laid down          = 
|Ship launched           = 12 April 1912
|Ship sponsor            =
|Ship christened         =
|Ship completed          =
|Ship commissioned       =
|Ship maiden voyage      =1912
|Ship homeport           =
|Ship fate               =Requisitioned by the French Navy, 1914
|Ship motto              =
|Ship nickname           =
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=France
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|France|naval}}
|Ship acquired           =Requisitioned, 1914
|Ship fate               = Sunk by {{SMU|U-38||2}}, 3 December 1916
|Ship notes              = 
|Ship badge              =
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption          =
|Ship type               = [[Heavy-lift ship]]
|Ship tonnage            ={{GRT|2,493|disp=long}}
|Ship displacement       = {{convert|5540|LT|t|disp=flip|abbr=on}} 
|Ship length             = {{Convert|93|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam               = {{Convert|12|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft              ={{Convert|5.95|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship power              ={{convert|850|PS|lk=in|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion         =*1 Shaft
*1 [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|Triple-expansion steam engine]]
|Ship speed              = {{convert|10|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range              =
|Ship endurance          =
|Ship capacity           = {{convert|3830|t|LT|abbr=on}} 
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|Ship complement         = 
|Ship crew               =22
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|Ship notes              =
}}
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'''SS ''Kanguroo''''' was a French [[heavy-lift ship]] built to transport [[submarine]]s before World War I. She delivered submarines to Brazil and Peru before the war began. Requisitioned in 1914 by the [[French Navy]], she was torpedoed by a German submarine and sunk at [[Funchal]], [[Madeira]], during the [[Battle of Funchal]] on 3 December 1916.

==Background and description==
''Kanguroo'' was a ship built to transport submarines for the shipbuilder [[Schneider et Cie]]. The company's submarines were too small and their endurance too limited to cross the oceans on their own. Schneider deemed towing them too risky so the company commissioned a purpose-built ship to deliver them safely to their destination. She was {{convert|93|m|ftin|sp=us}} long with a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|12|m|ftin|sp=us}} and a draft of {{convert|5.95|m|ftin|sp=us}}.<ref name=c9>Croce, p. 199</ref> The {{GRT|2,493|disp=adj}} ship<ref>Couhat, p. 247</ref> [[Displacement (ship)|displaced]] {{convert|5540|LT|t|disp=flip|sp=us}} and could carry out-sized cargo up to {{convert|3830|t|LT|sp=us}} in weight. ''Kanguroo'' was powered by a {{convert|850|PS|lk=in|adj=on}} [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple-expansion steam engine]] driving a single shaft that gave her a speed of {{convert|10|kn|lk=in}}.<ref name=c9/> She had a crew of four officers and eighteen enlisted crewmen.<ref>Garier, p. 231</ref>

[[File:KangurooBow.tiff|thumb|left|Bow of the ''Kanguroo'' with the plating removed]]
The ship was essentially a self-propelled [[floating dry dock]] with three main sections. The stern contained the engine, [[bridge (nautical)|bridge]], crew accommodations, workshops, pumps, [[electric generator]]s and storage facilities for the submarine's torpedoes. The submarine's batteries were kept charged during the voyage by the current from the generators. The middle section consisted of a {{convert|58|m|ftin|adj=on|sp=us}} double-hulled [[well deck]] with [[ballast tank]]s between its inner walls and the outer hull. The well deck had a capacity of {{convert|3300|m3|sp=us}} and was closed off by a pair of water-tight doors at its forward end. The outer plating and structural members of ''Kanguroo''{{'}}s bow were designed to be partially dismantled to give access to the short tunnel through the bow to the well deck.<ref name=c90/> Additional ballast tanks were positioned below and on each side of the tunnel to raise and lower the bow.<ref name=c90>Croce, pp. 199–200</ref>

Loading a submarine was a lengthy process that took weeks. The first step was to pump the forward ballast tanks empty which elevated the bow out of the water. Once it was dismantled, the ballast tanks were then filled to lower the bow and flood the well deck to allow the submarine to be winched aboard. The well deck's water-tight doors were then closed and the water in the dock was pumped overboard while the submarine settled onto its wooden bilge blocks. The bow was then reassembled and hatch covers were installed over the well deck. These prevented the ship from taking on water during a storm and allowed the crew to perform any necessary maintenance on the submarine while under way.<ref>Croce, p. 200</ref>

== Construction and service ==
[[File:FerreLoading.tiff|thumb|left|The Peruvian submarine ''Ferre'' being loaded aboard ''Kanguroo'']]
''Kanguroo'' was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] by [[Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde]] on 12 April 1912 at their shipyard in [[Bordeaux]].<ref>Garier, p. 233</ref> She loaded the {{ship|Peruvian submarine|Ferre}} on 28 June at [[Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer]], but did not depart for [[Callao]] until 30 July. She arrived in Peru on 19 October, after stops in [[São Vicente, Cape Verde]], [[Buenos Aires]], and [[Montevideo]], but could not unload the submarine until 29 October. The ship delivered ''Ferre''{{'}}s sister ship {{ship|Peruvian submarine|Palacios||2}} in 1913 and the {{ship|Brazilian submarine|F1}} the following year.<ref name=c2>Croce, p. 202</ref>

[[File:Wreck of the Dacia and of the Kanguroo.jpg|thumb|right|''Kanguroo'' (foreground) sinking, 3 December 1916]]
After the start of World War I in August 1914, the [[French Navy]] requisitioned the ''Kanguroo''. She was torpedoed and sank at the [[Port of Funchal]], [[Madeira]] on 3 December 1916, together with the {{ship|French gunboat|Surprise}} and the elderly British {{GRT|1,856||disp=adj}} [[cable layer]] {{SS|Dacia}}, by the German submarine {{SMU|U-38||2}}.<ref name=c2/> A total of thirty-three foreign crewmen and eight Portuguese nationals died during the attack. A monument with a sculpture by Francisco Franco de Sousa was raised in 1917 to commemorate the incident.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vanderkrogt.net/statues/object.php?webpage=ST&record=ptma098|title=Monumento às Vítimas da Guerra|last=Van der Krogt|first=René & Peter|year=2014|work=STATUES - HITHER & THITHER|accessdate=7 May 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last=Couhat|first=Jean Labayle|title=French Warships of World War I|year=1974|publisher=Ian Allan|location=London|isbn=0-7110-0445-5}}
*{{cite journal|last=Croce|first=Alain|year=2009|title=Question 30/45: Identity of Submarine Docking Ship|journal=Warship International|publisher=International Naval Records Organization|location=Toledo, Ohio|volume=XLVI|issue=3|pages=199–202|issn=0043-0374|display-authors=etal}}
*{{cite book|last=Garier|first=Gérard|title=L'odyssée technique et humaine du sous-marin en France|volume=Tome 2: Des ''Emeraude'' (1905–1906) au ''Charles Brun'' (1908–1933)|year=1998|publisher=Marines édition|location=Nantes, France|isbn=2-909675-34-3}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Kanguroo (ship, 1911)|SS Kanguroo}}
*{{cite Uboat.net
|id=3247
|name=SS Kanguroo
|type=1ship
}}
* [http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?125383 SS Kanguroo on wrecksite.eu]

{{December 1916 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanguroo}}
[[Category:1912 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in France]]
[[Category:Steamships of France]]
[[Category:World War I naval ships of France]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1916]]
[[Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Heavy lift ships]]